Chapter 5: The Gala

The Tattnall Foundation gala was held in the ballroom of the Tattnall house, with gold chairs and a string quartet.

I wore my sister's dress.

Corinna had pulled it out of her closet herself, a long silver column that fit me.

"You're taller in the shoulders than I am," she had said, zipping me up. "It looks better on you."

I had looked in the mirror and not known what to say.

Now I stood in the middle of the room with a glass of champagne and Sullivan's hand at the small of my back.

Every head turned when we came in.

"Mr. Tattnall," a banker said, shaking his hand. "And this must be..."

"Jolene Candler," said Sullivan. "Corinna's sister. She's standing in tonight."

"How lovely. And what do you do, Miss Candler?"

"I bartend," I said.

The banker's wife laughed politely, as if I had told a joke.

"She pours," said a cool voice at my shoulder. "Quite well, I'm told."

Lavinia wore black silk and a diamond collar, and she smiled at the banker's wife.

"Jolene is here for family reasons. Her mother is one of our beneficiaries."

"Is that right," the banker said.

"Bernadette Candler. A remarkable woman." Lavinia sighed. "Such a long illness. We are so happy to help."

I put down my champagne.

"Sullivan," I said, "get me a water."

"Jolene."

"Water."

He went.

Lavinia watched him go with her smile unchanged.

"You are very good at this," she murmured, "for a girl from Thomas Street."

"Thank you," I said. "I learned from watching you."

She turned away to greet a senator.

At nine o'clock, the lights went low, the quartet stopped, and Lavinia stepped up to a podium beside a giant screen.

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